(NewsNation) — An outdated newspaper headline about the killing of a retired police chief set off a mountain of online hate.

The online outrage was focused on a headline from the Las Vegas Review-Journal about a retired police chief being killed in an automotive incident. That headline read: “Retired police chief killed in bike crash remembered for laugh, love of coffee.”

Commenters online found the headline distasteful, given video circulating on social media appeared to show suspects intentionally barreling their car into the retired police chief.

But what the commenters didn’t realize is that the previous headline was published on Aug. 18, days before the video emerged that showed that the incident was unlikely to be any kind of accident. The newspaper updated its coverage as new facts emerged.

The commenters wrongly believed the newspaper was trying to conceal the intent of the suspects in the car.

“What I can say definitively is the internet mob took no effort to fact-check,” Glenn Cook, the executive editor at the newspaper, said. “The internet mob was happy to spread the message, spread it and add their own animosity to the stew.”

The video itself was highlighted by X, previously known as Twitter, owner Elon Musk, who wrote, “An innocent man was murdered in cold blood while riding his bicycle. The killers joke about it on social media. Yet, where is the media outrage? Now you begin to understand the lie.”

The newspaper was deluged with hateful comments and Cook even referred one threat to the police.

“This was a manufactured campaign to undermine trust in the media,” he said. “There’s just this increasing mass of people out there who are so angry about a lot of things, but in particular carry anger at the media, who saw this as an opportunity.”